Yorkshire
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Yorkshire.guide
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If you’re new to Yorkshire see what it has to offer on our Introduction page.
We have now added more than 1,000 places to our A to Y Gazetteer of Yorkshire. We've listed the cities and towns and now many of the villages, with links to pages providing more information or to pinpoint villages on our unique Yorkshire map.
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And look below for our frequently updated page with some of our newest items about Yorkshire issues and events in more detail .......
Two days of racing at York
York RacecourseThere are two days of racing as York Racecourse holds its June meeting this Friday and Saturday (June 13-14). Friday is the Mid Summer Raceday and Saturday is the racecourse's 54th Macmillan Charity Raceday supporting the cancer care charity.
The first of seven races each day is at 1.50pm and the last race each day is at 5.20pm.
More information at the 
York racecourse website.
Find 
York Racecourse on map.
York Yorkshire.guide/York
Bed race day in Knaresborough
Beds start to gather at the Knaresborough Castle grounds from 9amIf you're heading for Knaresborough on Saturday (June 14), you'll find its streets blocked by some unusual traffic during the afternoon as the annual Great Knaresborough Bed Race takes place.
The event includes a pageant of around 90 beds which runners push with occupants around a 2.4 mile course around Knaresborough. The fancy dress theme this year is "TV Adverts".
The event on the second Saturday in June has been an annual feature of the North Yorkshire town since 1966, missing only 2020 and 2021, and is organised by Knaresborough Lions in support of local charities and community good causes.
A park and ride scheme will operate into the town, but there are, as usual, trains to get there from York and from Leeds and Harrogate operating across the town's impressive viaduct.
Beds start to gather at the grounds of Knaresborough Castle from 9am, a parade takes place at 1pm and the race begins from 3pm.
Find out more at the Great Knaresborough Bed Race web site.
Knaresborough
Castle looks back on its Medieval history
Bolton Castle, North YorkshireBolton Castle in North Yorkshire looks back at its Medieval history (June 14-15) as part of a series of Living History Weekends held there during the summer.
The late 14th century castle, at the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park near Redmire, was built as a country home for Sir Richard le Scrope, Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of King Richard II and later part of the army which travelled with King Henry V to fight at the battle of Agincourt in France in 1415. The weekend's reenactments tell the story of the castle around that time.
More information at the Bolton Castle website.
Bolton Castle is just one of Yorkshire's fine stone castles, although many lay damaged by turbulent times in the past. Our Castles page tells you more about their history with links to find out more about when the sites are open and their admissions policy.
Castles
Yorkshire.guide/castles
Gallery brings art to a new generation
Ferens Art Gallerty, Kingston upon HullOne of Yorkshire's foremost art galleries brings art to a new generation in a free family exhibition of digital art which opens this Saturday (May 24) and continues until Sunday September 7.
The exhibition Microworld at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull aims to immerse visitors in digital art where creative creatures respond to movements. The exhibition also offers a programme of linked events starting this Saturday (May 24) with a drop-in Family Launch Fun Day and bookable Microworld dance party workshops on Sunday (May 25).
The gallery also offers one of the UK's finest art collections spanning around 700 years of art from Renaissance to modern with some internationally renowned maritime art inbetween.
More information can be found at the Ferens Art Gallery web page.
Kingston upon Hull Yorkshire.guide/Hull
Railway upgrade work has different changes over weekend
Click for SAT-SUN MON-FRI
Dewsbury has trains to Leeds over the weekendThere is a long summer of disruption and diversion on the route of the Trans Pennine railway upgrade affecting services in many parts of Yorkshire again this weekend (June 14-15).
The changes are different to those taking place on weekdays which are closing the line at Dewsbury from Mondays to Fridays until June 20.
The weekend closures on the north TransPennine Express routes between Manchester and York are at two locations:
The line through Mirfield. This will cause bus replacements between Huddersfield or Brighouse and Dewsbury or Wakefield, but with trains operating between Dewsbury and Leeds and between Huddersfield and Bradford, extended as usual to Leeds on Sundays. Trains operate west from Huddersfield with the stopping service operating via Manchester Victoria, Oxford Road and Piccadilly to Manchester Airport rather than directly to Piccadilly.
Grand Central services to London are diverted between Bradford and Wakefield Kirkgate on Saturday (June 14) with no service this Sunday.
The line between Leeds and Church Fenton. This will cause bus replacements of Northern services to stations between Leeds and York or Selby via Garforth and diversion of a reduced service of TransPennine Express trains on a longer route between Leeds and York.
Cross Country trains will not be operating their usual service between Leeds and York and may also be additionally affected by industrial action on Friday and Saturday.
Monday (June 16) is the start of the final week for now of weekday work affecting services between Ravensthorpe and Leeds through Dewsbury.
More detail on our Yorkshire.guide interactive Rail map.
Check details of your journey at the National Rail website.
Rail map
A dozen Seaside Awards for Yorkshire in 2025
The beach at Whitby has both a Blue Flag and a Seaside Award in 2025Hornsea has a 2025 Blue FlagWithernsea has a 2025 Blue FlagOnce again a dozen Yorkshire beaches have Seaside Awards in 2025 and three Yorkshire beaches have international Blue Flag awards.
The awards each year are made by the environment charity Keep Britain Tidy — the international Blue Flags on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education.
Beaches with Seaside Awards in 2025 are Redcar (Lifeboat Station beach), Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Runswick Bay, Sandsend, Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay, Scarborough (North Bay), Cayton Bay, Filey, South Landing at Flamborough, Bridlington (North beach) and (Wilsthorpe beach). The awards are presented to England's best beaches.
Whitby together with Hornsea and Withernsea have the Blue Flag, the world’s most recognised award for beaches, marinas and bathing waters which are measured against the highest bathing water standards of the European Union. The award highlights beaches with like standards across the world.
Find out more on our Seaside page.
Seaside Yorkshire.guide/seaside
Year of events in City of Culture
The Bradford Live entertainment venue Bradford, West Yorkshire's second-largest city, continues its year as UK City of Culture 2025 which began with a big opening show in January.
2025 sees the city and surrounding metropolitan district present hundreds of arts performances and events during the year.
Bradford Yorkshire.guide/Bradford
New National Nature Reserve in West Yorkshire
The iconic Ilkley Moor is part of the new Bradford Pennine Gateway National Nature ReserveA collection of eight natural areas of the Bradford metropolitan district of West Yorkshire have recently been declared one of the King's Series of National Nature Reserves.
Eight separate sites make up the reserve named the Bradford Pennine Gateway and they include Ilkley Moor with its iconic Cow and Calf Rocks. The sites, covering nearly five square miles in total, feature moorland, woodlands wetlands and meadows.
As well as Ilkley Moor there are areas at Baildon Moor above Baildon, Bingley Bog North near to the Five Rise Locks at Bingley, Penistone Hill Country Park near Haworth, Shipley Glen and the nearby Trench Meadows between Bingley, Baildon and Saltaire, the St Ives Country Park at Harden and Harden Moor, which has a bronze age stone circle.
Yorkshire's railway heritage stretches beyond 200 years
The Middleton Railway is the world's oldest continuously working railwayWhile a "Railway 200" celebration is launched by Network Rail in 2025 as the "200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway" it is worth remembering that the railway history of Yorkshire stretches back many decades before then.
The anniversary marks the 200th anniversary of The Stockton & Darlington Railway which was opened on September 27, 1825, on a route between the two towns in historic County Durham but was later extended into Yorkshire and the port of Middlesbrough.
Yorkshire however can trace its railway history back long before 1825.
The Middleton Railway, near Leeds, has the distinction of being the world's oldest continuously working railway, established 67 years earlier than the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1758.
It became the first railway to the authorised by an act of Parliament, the Middleton Railway Act 1757.
Blenkinsop's 1812 rack locomotive Salamanca From 1829 engraving. Public domain source at Wikimedia Commons It initially operated as a horse-drawn waggon-way to take coal from the Middleton collieries towards Leeds. But the steam age also arrived earlier in Yorkshire, when in 1812, some 13 years before the Stockton & Darlington Railway, the Middleton railway operated the first successful commercial steam locomotive.
The locomotive Salamanca was the first of four built for the colliery railway. With its twin-cylinder design it was more sophisticated than the experimental steam locomotives of Richard Trevithick a few years earlier. The locomotives were designed and built in Leeds by Matthew Murray to work with a rack railway track which had been designed and patented by John Blenkinsop, the colliery manager.
The Middleton Railway today runs as a heritage passenger line with a museum at its Moor Road station revealing its long history. The line reopened after winter maintenance on Saturday April 5.
The Penistone Line Partnership is running a viaduct photography competitionScarborough has the world's longest station seatThe Keighley and Worth Valley Railway steam galaA train at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway's recent steam galaAs part of the Railway 200 celebrations the Middleton Railway will be hosting a series of three evening talks during May, June and July commemorating the contribution of Leeds to the development of the railways. The railway is also restoring the world's smallest standard gauge diesel locomotive, built 90 years ago by the Hunslet Engine Co, to mark the pioneering role Leeds played also in diesel locomotive development.
Many other Railway 200 events are taking place to celebrate railway heritage in Yorkshire, including a viaducts photography competition on the Penistone Line which runs between West and South Yorkshire, art and photography exhibitions, drama, rail tours and even a student attempt to seat as many people as possible on the world's longest station seat at Scarborough station.
More about Railway 200 at Network Rail.
Heritage Railways
Yorkshire mixture
Here are links to a few of the most popular pages at Yorkshire.guide:
Cities Largest towns and cities Population Gazetteer Abbeys Castles Film locations Forest of Bowland Heritage Coast Heritage railways Highest mountains Historic Houses Howardian Hills Museums Nidderdale North Pennines North York Moors Peak District Racecourses Seaside York Yorkshire Dales Yorkshire football Railway stations
On Ilkla Moor Baht ’at
If you’re from Yorkshire you will probably recognise our background picture as the Cow and Calf Rocks on Ilkley Moor, famous as the location of the Yorkshire dialect anthem "On Ilkla Moor Baht ’at". More on Ilkley.
Yorkshire news topics
ARCHIVED
Bus rebranding plan: Weaver Network follows route of West Yorkshire's industrial past
Election 2025 results: Success for Reform UK in local elections in a few parts of Yorkshire.
Pennine Way 60: Anniversary of long-distance walking route with more than 100 miles in Yorkshire.
Bradford City of Culture: Opening show for West Yorkshire city named City of Culture 2025.
News archive 2024: News from 2024.
News archive 2023: News from 2023.
News archive 2022: News from 2022.
News archive 2021: News from 2021.
News archive 2020: News from 2020.
News archive 2019: News from 2019.
News archive 2018: News from 2018.
News archive 2017: News from 2017.
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